Incineration has been widely used for the destruction of domestic and industrial waste but these heavy halogenated wastes are not readily handled by this means. The combustion of such wastes is incomplete and harmful amounts can escape into the atmosphere or into soil and water. Furthermore some of the reaction products formed in this partial combustion are also harmful.
Incineration in cement kilns has been proposed but many kiln operators are reluctant to allow their facilities to be used because of the difficulty and uncertainty in ensuring that harmful combustion products are not formed and released adventitiously. No kiln operator in Australia, for example, has even permitted a trial incineration of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Deep land burial has often proved the only option but in countries such as Australia suitable geological formations do not appear to be available.
It is an object of our process to provide a means of combustion of heavy halogenated wastes that gives essentially quantitative destruction of these wastes without the formation of highly toxic or environmentally persistent combustion products. It is a further object of our process to recover the halogen in a useful form.